Mount Apikuni the mind of a child

@Thorleif

Grezig had had Thorleif on her mind for some time. He tended to stick to himself, mostly, which was fine by her, but that meant she hadn’t had much of a chance to speak with him since recruiting him. The more she observed him, the more she thought there might be something wrong with him mentally. He seemed… less than intelligent and acted like a child when he was spoken to. There was something there that she didn’t quite see, and she thought it might be hidden somewhere in his past. If only she could get him to talk to her in a manner she could understand. Perhaps… if she spoke to him like a child? Maybe he was confused by “grown up” talk. Wondering if he would even come when called, she tiled her head back and howled for him.

Hearing Grezig's call, Thorleif stopped digging into the ant hill.  Covered in a thin layer of dirt and ants did Thorleif no favors in terms of comfort, but it was something he didn't mind.  He actually enjoyed feeling of having so many ants running around trapped in his fur.  He sneezed out some ants and then trotted over towards Grezig's location.  Perhaps in another life, Thorleif could have been an anteater.  But then again, he had no talent for eating ants in the first place.

Thorleif paused at a few trees, examining their scent.  He stared at each tree longingly and thought to himself, "But what is tree, really?"  He marveled at the sheer height of each tree.  Wandering around each tree, Thorleif had completely forgot why he was in this area to begin with.  He chuffed and ants fell off of his snout.  He lollygagged around the area for some time before he caught sight of Grezig.

"Oh yeah," he remembered.  With a wag of his tail, he called out: "Hello there!"

Well. Grezig had to admit she was actually surprised that Thorleif had heeded her call. She stood at his approach and opened her mouth to say something, but he wasn’t even looking at her anymore. He was… staring at trees. She wondered if she was somehow invisible to him again, like when he had first met her and he’d thought that her voice had been a tree talking to him. She sat down again and waited, watching him, seeing what else he might do. Now that she’d decided he was mentally ill, she had a bit more patience with him. She could not treat him like a regular wolf. He needed to be handled with care, like a newborn. 

Eventually, he noticed her and called out, ’Hello there!’

She could not help but notice that he seemed to like saying that. “Hello,” she replied. “I was wondering if you would talk to me for a while.” She kept her tone light, forcing her tail to wag behind her. “Could I ask you some questions about yourself?” She wondered just how much information she would get out of him even if he did agree to speak with her, but… she had to try, right? She hated talking like this, having to keep her voice so light and airy. It went against her nature. But she noticed that Thorleif had a tendency to clam up if he was spoken to too harshly, so she had to modify her voice so that he wouldn’t feel threatened.

Thorleif cocked his head to the side.  A question?  For me?  He trotted over cautiously.  He didn't know what Grezig wanted to ask him.  Perhaps she wanted to learn how to dig for ants as well.  Perhaps she would enjoy being covered in ants.  Or maybe she wanted to know how to scavenge for fish?  Both very important questions.  Thorleif could even wager that she didn't even know to tell a skunk from a beehive.  It's the scales, he thought slyly to himself, completely lost in thought.  He caught Grezig from the corner of his eye and remembered where he was.  "Ask away!" Shouted Thorleif, a little too loud.

Good, he was willing to speak with her. That meant she hadn’t scared him away. But now she was stuck. She’d been so focused on just getting him to talk to her in the first place that she hadn’t thought of an actual question to ask him. “Uhh…” she began, feeling stupid. Reaching for something to start with, she remembered how she had thought that Thorleif acted like a child. Why not start there? “How old are you?” He looked to be in his prime, but he acted so childlike. Maybe he thought he was one. If he did, that might explain a few things.

How old am I?

Thorleif didn't know how to respond.  He glanced around nervously.  Old?  Me?  He couldn't comprehend the concept.  What did time have to do with him?  Perhaps it had a connection to finding half eaten fish.  Or maybe it was in connection with the shrinking stones.

Still, Thorleif could not come up with an answer that he felt would satisfy Grezig.  He turned back to her and opened his mouth:  "I...  days...  uh... ha ha...  you know...  the sun.  Uh.  Moon.  Uh... days..." 

Thorleif stammered out his reply.  It didn't sound good, but perhaps he put enough words in to make it seem deep in meaning.  Thorleif hoped it would suffice.  It probably wouldn't.

Wow. Okay. If asking a simple question like ’How old are you?’ was too hard for Thorleif to answer, Grezig wasn’t sure any question would be simple enough for him. She sighed, immediately frustrated. How was she supposed to get through to him? Clearly he’d kept himself alive somehow. He was smart enough to know how to fish… Fish…

“Who taught you how to fish? Did a parent teach you, or someone else, or did you teach yourself?” She thought that by giving him multiple choice, it might be easier for him to pick the right answer. She didn’t know why she was trying so hard. It was just that she had been the one to recruit him, and so far, he hadn’t helped them at all. Well. He’d brought them a fish once or twice. She supposed that was good. It kept them fed, to an extent. She just wondered if his ability to fish outweighed the rest of his stupidity. Was he worth keeping around at all? That was why she was asking questions. She needed to come to some kind of decision about this.

"Ah, fish!" Thorleif grinned.  "Many... uh... times...  days... ago... "  Thorleif stumbled over his words, yet again.  "I was taught by the Midget Wolves!  After I lost my pack, I followed them around for a while.  They taught me where to find the best fish in rivers and ponds and lakes!"  Ah, good old Midget Wolves.  Funny thing, those wolves, thought Thorleif.  Heck, they didn't even look like wolves.  More like small fat grey wolves.  With striped tails and black fur around the eyes.  Thorleif shrugged to himself.  They had always snarled and hissed at him whenever he got close, so he had kept his distance, and observed their fishing behaviours.

Midget… wolves? Gods, talking to this male was like trying to force your way out of a brambly bush. The harder you tugged and pushed, the more stuck you became. The more she spoke to him, the more confused she was. “Wait,” she said, before he went off on some kind of tangent. She tried to think. The only creatures she could think of in the moment who were naturally good at fishing were otters. But she knew from experience that Thorleif did not know the names of certain creatures. “Can you tell me exactly what these… midget wolves… looked like? How big were they? What color? Did they have thick fur, or short?” If she could get him to describe them properly, she could figure out what animal he was talking about. And maybe teach him the right name for them.

"Ah, let's see... they were about this tall," Thorleif raised his paw in the air.  "Grey, with thick fur.  Hmm... they had black around their eyes... striped bushy tail."  Thorleif thought for a moment, then nodded his head.  "Yep.  Those are the midget wolves.  Not too friendly however.  They're actually quite grouchy."  Thorleif nodded in satisfaction.  They may have been grouchy, but if they ever crossed paths again, maybe they could join his new pack?  The possibilities were endless.

Raccoons. Thorleif was talking about raccoons. This made more sense, though why he’d chosen to follow them around for so long, she could not fathom. If it had been physically possible, Grezig probably would have face-palmed right about now. “Thorleif…” she muttered, shaking her head. “How are you so bad at animal names? What you are describing is a raccoon. Not a midget wolf. How did you even come up with that name? They look nothing like wolves.” She sighed, realizing that getting Thorleif to become a productive member of their pack would probably be impossible. But… well, she just wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to lead any dangerous animals back into the pack lands or something. She would have to teach him all the animals from scratch, like she was teaching a pup. 

Was she even prepared to do that? That would be a lot of work and would take many months, probably. She sighed again and looked at him, studying and assessing this idiot wolf. He was stupid, but well-meaning. Maybe he just needed a bit of help… “Thorleif,” she began, wondering how to word this. “I’d like to take you around to different places and teach you the names of different animals. How does that sound? Does that sound like fun?” She had reverted again to speaking to him like a child.

Animal names...?  Thorleif pondered about the idea of learning, relearning more likely, the names of the animals around him.  Until now, Thorleif had just assumed that everyone thought up of the same exact names for every animal by sheer coincidence.  In a flash of what could be mistaken as insight, Thorleif thought he could start peicing together various bits of information.  Things such as the fact that no other wolf knew what animals he was talking about and how some animals, in hindsight, do not actually look like midget wolves.

"Yes, I do believe that could be useful!", exclaimed Thorleif.  Yes indeed.

Thorleif seemed to give her question some thought, which surprised her, since she didn’t think he was capable of thought. When he told her he thought that that could be useful, she simply grunted. Of course it would be useful, since he didn’t seem to know any proper names of any animals… ever. “Good,” she said. “We will start soon. You must give me time to come up with a plan—where we will go. We should wait until we are settled, perhaps, but I might be able to teach you some things as we travel.” She nodded, more to herself than to him. Yes. This would be good. Perhaps afterwards he would not be quite so… dumb.

Last post from me. Wanna wrap up?